The Anna James Adventures Vol 2 - Coffee Shop Chaos
by calgarry
Summary: The second story in a series about Anna James (OC), the Doctor's new companion. Anna goes to her first alien planet with the Doctor, but something is distinctly wrong with their breakfast. It is recommended that you read the first story before this one, the beginning will make more sense if you do. Reviews are greatly appreciated.
1. First Meeting

**_First meeting_**

It was a cold, wintry day in 1997. The people of Nottingham were hurrying about their business, trying to keep inside out of the frigid air. It seemed an ordinary day for the time of year. But this was no ordinary day. For this was the day that Anna James met the Doctor.

The red-haired girl stepped out of the TARDIS cautiously, unbelievingly, gazing around in wonder. "We…we just…_I _just…"

The man in the bow-tie stepped out of the TARDIS behind her, grinning ear to ear. "Yes. Well done, Anna James, for you have just travelled in time and space for the first time."

"Wow."

Anna and the Doctor found themselves in a park. It was freezing, and Anna pulled her arms around herself, hugging herself for warmth. "Wait here," said the Doctor and disappeared inside the TARDIS, emerging with a long winter coat. She slid her arms into it gratefully and smiled at him. He pointed to a point over her right shoulder and she turned around to watch the scene unfold.

The lone girl on the swing in the otherwise empty playground looked sad and miserable, a dot against the landscape. A box materialised behind her and she turned around, then walked towards the box as a man emerged. They talked for a while, then the girl ran away, happy for the first time in forever. The man watched after her for a long while, then got back in the box again and dematerialized.

Next, the box appeared in a small garden, behind a fairly average suburban house with no mess, clutter, or dirt anywhere. A short while later, the girl from the park emerged from the back door, peering behind her before running out to greet the man again. They talked for a while, then sat down on a bench. The girl listened to the man tell stories, then fell asleep on his shoulder. It was clear that she completely trusted him. The man sat still for a while, not moving, then lifted the girl up in his strong arms as if there was no effort involved at all. He slipped inside with her, then slipped back out again a minute later without her. He got in the box and dematerialized to the next night.

This earlier Doctor, he did not notice the two people standing in the garden next door watching him. He did not see the tears in the girl's eyes, the same eyes he had looked at just moments earlier. He did not see the man put his arm around the girl's shoulders, and lead her into the TARDIS behind them. And he did not see the TARDIS so like his disappear into the night, this time with the brakes off so as not to wake the sleeping girl in the house.


	2. Thank you, TARDIS

**_Thank you, TARDIS_**

The Doctor bounded up the stairs to the console and started running around, pulling levers and pushing buttons. He does that a lot, Anna thought as she watched him from the door, smiling slightly to herself.

Eventually, the Doctor turned around to look at Anna. He saw her smiling and grinned at her, the smile lighting up his face. "Well," he said, "what next?"

She shrugged. "You're the captain of this ship; what do you think?"

"I think-" he started to say before he saw Anna give an enormous yawn. "I think it's time for you to get to bed. How long has it been since you last slept?"

She shrugged sullenly. "I dunno. You came and rescued me in the late evening, I'd say. It was almost time for my dinner to come around on the trolley. And I've been awake for a few hours since then. Oh, and I woke up early this morning." She was babbling, as one tends to do when over-tired.

"How long?" he pressed gently, coming down to stand beside her.

She sighed. "Oh, about 20 hours, I'd say."

"Right. Definitely time for bed then. Sexy?" he said the last part louder and she jumped, thinking he had been referring to her. She was even more confused when the machine at the middle of the room gave a rumble in response.

"Sexy, could we please have a room for Anna here? She's very tired, so close to the control room would be good." There was another rumble from the machine. "Oh, don't give me that again!" he snapped. "She's nothing like her." A series of beeps, then lights on the console started flashing red. Come on, sexy! Please?"

This went on for a minute or so, until eventually he sighed and rolled his eyes, and turned to Anna. "Come along," he said, and took her hand and led her up the stairs and down a corridor. She hadn't noticed before, but there were several such corridors leading off the central room, the control room. She had thought the ship was just a ship, but apparently it was a full house. They passed several doors before coming to a plain wooden door that was slightly open, causing a strip of light to spill out into the corridor. The Doctor bowed and ushered Anna inside, and she stepped into her new room.

The room was large, much bigger than her room at the mental institute. The walls had pink and orange vertical stripes, but not in a way that hurt her eyes to look at. There was a double bed in the middle of the room, facing the door, and a large dresser and armchair on the other side of the bed. A bookshelf adorned one wall, and a stand-alone wardrobe stood next to it.

The room was the complete opposite of what had been Anna's room for the past few years that she couldn't believe it was her own. It was such a far cry, in fact, that she wondered if the TARDIS had seen her old room and had decided to do something completely different. Either way, she liked it. It was very much to her taste, and the colours were perfect. "Thank you, TARDIS," she called as she stepped inside, and the Doctor laughed from behind her. She turned around to look at the Doctor.

"Thank you so much for, well, for everything. For coming in and brightening up my life, and now this. It's…it's the first time somebody, anybody really, has done something nice for me in a long time. And I am grateful, really I am." She smiled at him tentatively, and he took her hand in response.

"That's fine, Anna. I am just glad I could do something for you. Now, you'd better get some sleep. We need you rested for the big day tomorrow!"

"Why, what's tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow can be any day you want it to be, Anna. Tomorrow can be yesterday, or today, or next Tuesday. Such is the beauty of a time machine!" Seeing her crack a smile, he grinned in response. "Goodnight, Anna." He backed out of the room and closed the door gently behind him with a click.

Anna stood in the middle of the room (her room!) and took it all in for a minute. She started to look through the drawers in the dresser, and found a nice pair of pyjamas sitting conveniently on top of a pile of clothing that all looked as if it would fit her. She slipped into the PJs quickly and sat down on the bed.

In all her life, all the craziness and insanity and visions and misery and sadness, this had to have been the strangest day ever, by far. She had escaped from the mental hospital with the help of her childhood imaginary friend, then she had gone back to see herself as a child. Now she was sitting in her new room in the middle of a living spaceship.

Anna lay down between the handily-turned-down covers on the bed and closed her eyes. She was probably dreaming, she thought sleepily, and she'd wake up the next day back in her grey bed in her grey life. But it was a good dream, and she decided to enjoy it while it lasted.

As Anna drifted off to sleep, her last thought was, what will they think at the hospital when they find out that I'm gone?

Before she could follow up that thought, Anna James slipped into a dreamless sleep.


	3. I'm not trying to replace her

**_I'm not trying to replace her_**

Anna opened her eyes to find herself in a bright room of orange and pink. She blinked, disoriented, until the memories of the previous day came flooding back to her and she sat bolt upright.

The Doctor was real, not her imagination.

He had broken her out of the mental hospital.

He had used the TARDIS, the blue box she had seen when she was younger.

The TARDIS was smaller on the outside.

It was also a living, conscious organism of some sort.

There were lots of corridors and rooms in the TARDIS, and she had one of her own now.

The room was perfect for her.

She was now going to go with the Doctor on his travels through time and space.

After blinking and rubbing her eyes a few times, Anna decided that her situation was real, not imaginary. Then she jumped out of the comfortable bed and stood in the middle of her room, taking it all in properly in a way she had not been able to the previous night as she was so tired.

She found herself noticing little things: there was a picture or rainbow-coloured chilli peppers on the wall next to the door; there was a large mirror on the wall facing the peppers; and something she had definitely not seen before was the door next to the dresser, camouflaged because it was the same colour and pattern as the surrounding walls.

Anna crossed the room and opened the door cautiously, peering through to find herself in a large room with high bookshelves surrounding her. She was in a library of some sort. How did the TARDIS know that she liked books? It was spooky, how the machine had gotten into her head like that.

She suddenly realised that she was still in her pyjamas. She ducked back into her bedroom and quickly opened a drawer in the dresser. Instead, she found a perfect outfit right on top, where her pyjamas had been yesterday. "Okay, this is getting creepy," she muttered, but took the outfit anyway and quickly changed.

A while later, Anna emerged from her room and walked down the hallway of the TARDIS. She found the control room, and stuck her head inside the door. She saw the Doctor inside, leaning on the console with his back to her. She was about to speak when she realised he was talking to someone that Anna couldn't see.

The Doctor's hands clenched on the console. "That's not fair." There was a reply which Anna couldn't quite catch, then the Doctor sighed and his shoulders slumped. "I'm not trying to replace her," he said slowly.

Then he shifted and Anna caught a glimpse or the person he was talking to. There was a woman standing by the console. She looked older than Anna and the Doctor, significantly so; and she had wild, frizzy blonde hair. There was a gun in a holster at her hip. She looked like a badass, but vulnerable at the same time. The strange woman was staring at the Doctor, half-smiling, half-sad. She looked as if she had tears in her eyes.

Anna started forward and opened her mouth to speak when the strange woman disappeared to be replaced by another woman. This newcomer was younger than the first, with straight brown hair and a happier face. She held a mixing bowl and spoon, and was smiling at the Doctor as if laughing at something he had done.

Then this girl disappeared, to be replaced by a familiar face. Anna stared at it for a second before realising that she was gazing at her own face. She stepped backwards in shock, staring. She looked different to how she had imagined herself, sort of…backwards. She supposed that was because she had only seen her face in a mirror; her mother didn't believe in cameras for some reason.

She blinked, and her – the other her – was replaced by a copy of the Doctor, staring accusingly at – well, at himself. The Doctor, the real Doctor, growled and waved his hand angrily, and the image disappeared. He spun around, frowning, then he saw Anna standing at the door and his features relaxed into a grin.

"Hello, Anna!" he greeted her cheerfully, bounding down the steps to the door. "How did you sleep?" It was clear that he did not realise that Anna had seen the earlier scene.

"With my eyes closed," she joked feebly, and he snorted.

"Right, one thing we need to work on is the joke. But never mind," he continued, leading her up the steps, "I am good at jokes. Jokes are one thing I _am_ good at. Call me Mr Joker. The Joker! No, that's taken. Never mind!"

He spoke so quickly that it was as if he was firing words at Anna, and she had to struggle to keep up with what he was saying. While he spoke, he danced around the console, pressing buttons and typing things and looking into the monitor. His movements seemed random, but there must have been a method to his madness, as the TARDIS started to whine and groan and lights started flashing.

"Now, it's breakfast time! And I know the perfect place. The Planet of the Coffee Shops!" The Doctor crossed to the door and flung it open for Anna to see. He beamed at her, then caught her facial expression and peered out himself.

"And, er, well…it's not supposed to look like that."


	4. The Planet of the Coffee Shops

**_The Planet of the Coffee Shops_**

The Doctor had had a bad 24 hours.

First, after he had gone to all the trouble to rescue Anna from the hospital and take even her back in time, she had been boring ad gone straight to bed without a proper adventure.

Next, the TARDIS had played with him by switching all the rooms around every couples of minutes or so, so he never knew where he was or where he was going. And then she had used the voice interface to accuse him of trying to replace River, of all things. It wasn't his fault he managed to pick up Clara and Anna.

And now, all he was trying to do was take Anna out for a nice breakfast. Of course the Planet of the Coffee Shops would pick this day to be struck by meteors.

The pair in the TARDIS stared down the street at the utter destruction. Where there had previously been hundreds upon hundreds of coffee shops, cafes, and coffee carts now stood piles of rubble. All the lovely buildings had been destroyed by a bunch of rocks that had rained down from the sky a few hours earlier.

Suddenly, there was a _whoosh_ and something exploded very close to the TARDIS doors. Anna and the Doctor jumped back inside and pulled the doors shut hurriedly.

Correction: was _still_ raining down outside.

The Doctor leapt up the step to the console, Anna hot on his heels.

"Doctor? What's happening?"

He ignored her, so she tugged gently on his sleeve. "Doctor?"

"It would appear that the Land of the Coffee Shops, the number one place for the discerning galactic traveller, is having some slight meteor trouble."

"Slight? That was a bit more than slight, Doctor!"

"Okay, a lot of meteor trouble. But there's one slight problem." There was an explosion near the TARDIS, and the ship rocked, sending the pair inside off balance.

"What's the problem?" Anna asked, picking herself up off the floor.

"This planet is in the Jaxashuptry nebula." the Doctor replied, using his hands to steady himself on the console.

"The what now?"

"It's basically an area in space, a region if you like, often without stars or anything. But this nebula is special. This one has stars, but it doesn't have meteors."

"But I thought you said that those were meteors outside!"

"They are," he replied, grinning infuriatingly.

"But…but…if there aren't any…you know what, I'm give up. From now on, I'm just going to go with whatever you say, and not try to make any sense of it, or I'll go…anyway, I give up."

He narrowed his eyes slightly at her conspicuous refusal to say the word 'crazy', but didn't say anything. "So, Anna, the real question is, if those things outside the door aren't meteors, what are they?"

He pulled the monitor around towards him, and typed something on the keyboard. Some strange symbols came up on the screen, and Anna squinted at them, but couldn't make head or tail of them. The Doctor, however, seemed to be reading them as if they made perfect sense to him.

Suddenly, the picture on the screen changed to what looked like a map of the city. There was a pulsating blue dot in one corner, and the Doctor stabbed at it. "That's us."

Rows upon rows of red dots also appeared on the screen, roughly in a grid pattern. "And those are the supposed meteors.

"What does it mean?" Anna asked, peering over his shoulder.

"It means that the Land of the Coffee Shops is under attack."

"Under attack? Why would someone want to attack a planet, for goodness' sake?"

"Jealousy, perhaps. But who would be jealous?" The Doctor stared at the monitor thoughtfully, speaking more to himself than to his companion.

Anna snapped her fingers. "How about number two?"

"What?"

"You said this was the number one place for the difficult traveller, or something. So there must be a number two place, surely."

The Doctor stared at her for a few seconds, a smile slowly spreading on his face. "Of course! Appalappachia!"

"Appalappa-who-now?"

"Appalappachia. I went there once, with-" He stopped a frowned, then relaxed his face and smiled. "Never mind. So, if it is Appalappachia, why are they attacking? They're a peaceful planet, never been in a war. Why would they suddenly turn around and attack this place? It doesn't make sense." He turned around to see Anna hiding a grin. "What?" he demanded.

She giggled. "It's just, out of everything that I've seen in the past 24 hours, this is the thing that makes the _most_ sense, believe you me." The Doctor glared at her briefly, and she stopped smiling. "Sorry. What now?"

"Now?" The Doctor ran to the door and turned back to face Anna, straightening his bow tie. "Now, we go outside and confront the Appalappachians."


	5. Destruction

There was a lull in the explosions on the Land of the Coffee Shops.

The door to the blue box creaked open a crack, and a man's head popped out and peered around him. A girl's head appeared underneath his, and looked around also before looking up at the other person.

The door opened all the way, and the two people inside stepped out cautiously into the open air. It had recently been raining on the planet, but the air was warm from the meteors, so it was sticky and humid. Anna wrinkled her nose in disgust, but kept walking, following the Doctor as he strode ahead on his long legs.

She stood back as he approached a landed meteor, reaching out warily to touch the surface. It looked like an ordinary rock, but it must have been hot, as he hissed and jumped backwards, glaring at the rock as if it had betrayed him. Ana tried very hard not to laugh as the Doctor reached out again, to recoil again in the same manner.

She rolled her eyes and reached up to her head, pulling off her bandanna in one smooth movement. She had tried going without it that morning, but she had felt naked without it. Her bandanna had become part almost a part of her.

Anna tapped the Doctor on the shoulder, and he looked up, sucking his fingers where they had been burnt by the meteor. She passed him the bandanna, and he accepted it looking slightly sheepish. "Thanks," he muttered, and she clapped him on the back in response. "Don't mention it."

The Doctor wrapped the hot rock in the small cloth and placed it quickly and gingerly in an inside pocket of his jacket. That jacket seemed to be similar to the TARDIS – smaller on the outside. However, instead of returning to the TARDIS as she expected, he instead turned around and walked further down the street.

Anna followed close behind, cringing at the signs of destruction and mayhem as the pair made their careful way down the trashed street. It reminded her of clips of war zones she had seen at school – never on the television at home, of course, as her mother never let her watch the news.

The white streets were blown apart in some places, and the Doctor and Anna had to pick their ways carefully around the deep craters. Buildings all around were raging with flames, but there were too many for anybody to be able to put out the fires. As Anna watched, a beam inside a shop fell down, still burning. The windows blew out with the sudden pressure, and she fell to the ground as she jumped back, trying to avoid the flying glass.

The Doctor stopped and helped her up, gripping her shoulders tightly to steady her. "You okay?" he asked concernedly, and she clenched her teeth tightly together and nodded.

"Doctor, where are we going?" she asked hesitantly as they started walking again.

"To the town hall."

"Why?"

He stopped and turned to face her. "Anna, what's one thing you notice about this town?"

She frowned at him. "That it's trashed?"

"Apart from that."

She thought for a bit. "There's no people here."

The Doctor started walking again, but he continued to talk. "Exactly. The inhabitants have all disappeared. Vanished. And where's the one place people go in an emergency?"

"The town hall," Anna replied, feeling silly for not having realised before.

"Exactly," the Doctor answered, and squeezed her shoulders. "Probably the best way to discern what exactly has happened here is to ask the natives. And the natives," he stopped and faced a large building that appeared to be mostly undamaged, "will be in here."

He walked up to the massive doors and stopped, his hand on the handle. "Well? You coming?"

Anna skipped up the couple of steps to the door and placed her hand on the other handle, grinning at her friend. "Always."

Together, Anna and the Doctor pulled on the doors and stepped inside.

As they entered the building, they found themselves in a large lobby, adorned with strange jewels and ribbons that all looked natural, organic. Anna stared around in wonder around as the Doctor strode to the next set of doors.

She shook herself and followed him. As they paused outside the imposing double doors, they heard voices from within, along with the movements of many people. The guttural voices of hundreds of beings made Anna stop and gulp, before joining the Doctor with her hand upon the handle, like before.

She looked up at the Doctor and nodded, taking a breath. He smiled reassuringly at her, and they yanked the doors open together before stepping boldly inside the hall.

Anna barely had time to take in the room before all movement in the room stopped, and everybody inside stopped to look at the newcomers, surprised by the bold entrance.

The Doctor smiled uneasily, aware of the hundreds of eyes upon him and Anna. "Hello," he said in his usual manner, "I'm the Doctor, and this is-"

He faltered as a deep voice boomed out over the crowd. "We know who you are. Anna James and the Doctor. The people who doomed our planet."

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**A/N: Hi there! Calgarry here. First off, thank you for reading this story.**

**I just wanted to say, it'd be great to have a review or two, just so you can let me know what you think so far, whether I'm on track or not. What do you think of this story? Love it, or hate it? What do you think of Anna as a character? Any guidance, ideas, anything would be awesome. Please?**


	6. We'll come quietly

**A/N: Still no reviews, but here, you can have another chapter anyway. Thank you for reading, please review!**

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Anna and the Doctor blinked and stepped back, surprised at the sudden accusation. Ana blinked a couple of times and looked around the room, trying to see where the voice had come from.

She saw that the room was very large, but simple. There were no ornaments, no decorations, nothing. The hall was a plain, bare box, a stark contrast to the antechamber they had come through.

The large hall was shaped like an arena, with many large steps around the outside. The Doctor walked forward a few steps to the middle of the arena, and Anna followed him quickly, still looking around. There were tens, hundreds, possibly a thousand people sitting or standing on the steps – and that's what they looked like, people. They looked humanoid, normal skin colours, as if they were from Earth. There were some subtle differences though, between these creatures and humans. For example, humans' hair doesn't usually stick straight up in the air, nor are their noses upside down. Other than that, the people from this planet looked exactly like they were human.

The voice spoke again, and Anna and the Doctor whirled around to face where they thought it was coming from. "Anna James and the Doctor. Do you plead guilty to the charges as laid before you?"

Anna glanced at the Doctor, but he didn't say anything. She opened her mouth to speak, but he held a finger up, shushing her.

"What are these charges?" the Doctor calmly asked, staring intently up at the spot where the voice had come from. They both jumped when the reply came from behind them.

"You are charged today with wilful attacks on our planet, with intent to destroy. Do you plead guilty?"

Anna spoke up indignantly. "But we've never been here before!" The Doctor signalled for her to stop talking, but she continued. "I don't know what you're thinking, but you must have got us confused with someone else. We landed on your planet only a short time ago, ten minutes or something. The meteors or whatever were already here. What are you talking about?"

There was a deep sigh from behind them, and they spun around again to see a man standing there. This one looked human – his hair lay flat, and his nose was normal. "I think you know exactly what I mean," he said, smiling coldly, almost laughing at them.

The Doctor stiffened beside Anna, and she looked up to see him glaring at the newcomer, his jaw clenched. "Hello, Master," he said through clenched teeth. "Long time no see."

"Really, Doctor? It seems I saw you only yesterday. The beauty of time travel, eh?" The Master looked at Anna, and grinned. "I see you've got yourself a new bit on the side, though. No, sorry, what was it you call them? Companions, of course."

Anna stared at the newcomer, then back up at the Doctor. "What's he talking about? Do you know this man? What does he mean, another bit on the side? Can you explain? Please?"

The Doctor ignored Anna, staring the Master down. "What do you want?"

The Master laughed, a short, sharp bark that made Anna flinch. "Oh, I think you know what I want, Doctor." He stepped closer to the pair, and Anna stepped back, half behind the Doctor. "I want to talk, of course."

He signalled to someone behind the pair, and they turned around in time to see two guards – natives of the planet – come up behind them and grab them roughly. Anna struggled and shouted, but a hand was clamped heavily over her mouth, and her eyes were covered with a blue cloth. She could hear the Doctor struggling beside her, but then there was a dull thud and the Doctor stopped struggling.

Anna heard the Master's voice in her ear. "Unless you want the same to happen to you, I suggest you keep very, very quiet, Anna James."

Anna stuck her tongue out, and the hand over her mouth was removed quickly. She spat a couple of times, then hissed, "Who are you?"

There was a dark chuckle. "I am an old friend of the Doctor. An old enemy, too. And I am about to become your worst nightmare."

The strip of cloth was placed over Anna's mouth as a gag, and she was dragged away, back through the large double doors. She could hear muffled cheering as she heard the doors swing shut, and she guessed the people inside were celebrating their capture.

o0o0o

The Doctor mumbled and shifted, then opened his eyes and jerked upright. In a heartbeat he was standing up, his hair sticking every which way, his sonic screwdriver in his hand, looking wildly around him.

Anna looked lethargically up at him from where she was sitting on the floor. "There's no way out, I've tried everything."

He looked down at the girl. She was sitting on a cold, damp concrete floor in a small cell, with about four square metres of floor space. However, the concrete was not grey, but instead a subtle white-green. It would have been beautiful, were it not for the setting. The small room was unfurnished, there was not even a bed.

Anna was slumped in one corner. Her eyes were half-closed, and she looked defeated. As the Doctor watched, he saw her eyes grow moist, and she gave a big sniff.

He crouched down next to the girl, and put an arm around her shaking shoulders. "What's up?"

"It's nothing, just…this, being shut up like this: it's pretty much the story of my life. And I hate my life." She rested her head on her knees, leaning back slightly into his comforting embrace.

He tried to sound reassuring. "Hey, don't cry. We're going to get out of here, I promise."

She wiped her eyes and looked up. "You promise?"

The Doctor looked at Anna, and saw what he had seen, only days ago for him, but years earlier for her: a scared young girl, willing to trust the mad man with a blue box.

He smiled reassuringly. "Of course."

She rubbed fiercely at her eyes, then stood upright. The Doctor followed suit. "Now, what can you tell me about this cell?"

Suddenly business-like again, Anna rattled off a list. "Three paces wide by three and a half long, and just low enough that I can reach the ceiling if I jump. There is a door, but it leads to a long dark corridor going both directions, and an armed guard of two of the creatures from this planet goes past every ten minutes. The patrols appear to be timed so that there is always one pair with the cell door in sight. No windows, all the walls are structurally sound, and the corners are reinforced with some kind of organic metal.

"The whole setup here is very precise and meticulous, and altogether quite ingenious. I tried to talk to some of the guards, but they just told me to be quiet, and one pulled a gun on me. However, his partner was nicer, and told me that they were waiting for you to wake up. I got the impression that when you did, you would be carted off to see this master fellow straight away."

"How did you work out that the walls are reinforced?"

Anna grinned and took a small magnet out of her pocket. "This was in my jacket pocket this morning. I've always kept a magnet in my pocket, as well as a paper clip and safety pin, for as long as I can remember. Don't know why, they just come in useful sometimes. They're like my bandanna."

The Doctor frowned, then shook his head slightly. "Right. How long, exactly, was I out for?"

"Oh, not long, only about ten patrols' worth of time. Speaking of which," she added as they began to hear the steady beat of footsteps in the distance, "here they come now."

The Doctor smiled slightly, straightening his bow tie. "Now, -"

"Oh no," Anna interrupted, "I know that look."

"-we will go and see our Master," the Doctor continued as if Anna had not spoken.

She rolled her eyes, and went to stand behind the Doctor as he stepped up to the doors expectantly. They stood there, together, listening to the distant footsteps come closer to the cell.

"One last thing, Doctor," Anna said quickly, "who's the Master?"

The Doctor sighed slightly. "He's…an old friend. Old enemy, too."

"That's exactly what he said. Is he a Time Lord like you?"

"Yes. Yes, he is. I thought he was dead, but apparently he isn't."

"Is that bad?"

"That depends who you are. I had hoped he could be filed away under the heading of 'ghosts'."

"Ghosts?" Anna queried.

"Never mind. Ah, look, we have company."

The guard had arrived outside the door to the cell, and one of them started to pull out a key. The other one levelled his gun at the pair, but the Doctor raised his hands in surrender, signalling that Anna should do the same. "No need for that," he said quickly, "we'll come quietly."


	7. The Master's army

**So, just a couple of notes about the Master. This is Simm!Master (is that how you do it?), looking like Harold Saxon. The handsome one with brown hair, not the creepy dude with half-blonde hair. Goodness knows how he got to this planet, seeing as how he could only go between those two places and times, but hey, this is fanfiction, it doesn't have to make sense right?**

* * *

The Doctor and Anna were roughly bundled out of the small cell and frogmarched down the long corridor by the heavily armed guards. They were forced down several corridors and up a steep flight of stairs, before they were pulled to an abrupt halt at a nondescript door. They had passed many such doors, and there was nothing to mark out this one as different. It appeared to be made of an orange-tinged wood, with a wooden handle that turned. It almost seemed too innocuous for the dark setting.

The door opened, seemingly by itself, and Anna and the Doctor were pushed forward into the blackness beyond. The door swung shut on the guards, and the pair were left inside, blinking in the utter blackness, their eyes unable to adjust.

A light flickered on, and the pair turned quickly to see a black lamp with a black lampshade sitting on a table. The figure of a man was silhouetted in the dull light, lit from the back so they could not see his face. The Doctor seemed to recognise the figure, however, as he once again said, "Hello, Master."

"Hello again, Doctor. How're you doing? I forgot to ask before, silly me."

"I'm fine, thank you. You seem to be doing well."

Anna was getting sick of the polite conversation, so she coughed slightly. "Ahem? Boys? Surely we can talk another time, maybe?"

"Oh, I wouldn't bet on it," the Master replied coldly, still looking at the Doctor. "You see, I'm not sure we will all be around much longer. At least, not you two."

He clapped his hands and the suddenly the room was flooded with light. Anna and the Doctor winced, and Anna placed a hand over her eyes. When she opened them, she saw that they were surrounded by soldiers, all pointing their guns at them.

"Look, what do you want, Master?"

"Oh, the usual. You know, universal domination, your death."

"Nothing new then," the Doctor muttered to Anna under his breath.

Anna spoke up. "Who are you, and what do you want with us? I've done you no harm: I only met the Doctor yesterday. Well, over a decade ago actually, but that's unimportant."

"Wibbly wobbly timey wimey," the Master said sneeringly, and the Doctor stiffened. "That's what you said, wasn't it?"

"A long time ago," the Doctor said angrily. "How did you know?"

"Never mind how he knows that, how does he know who I am? I've never seen him before in my life! Like I said, I only came with him yesterday," Anna interjected, glaring at the Master.

"Really?" the Master asked incredulously, looking at the Doctor. "A new one? Well, she can't know very much yet, can she?"

"What are you talking about?" the Doctor asked quickly. "She's known me for many years now, like she said earlier. Of course she knows a lot, about the universe, Gallifrey, everything! Even you. I've told her all about it, haven't I, Anna?" There was no answer, so he looked at where Anna had been. "Anna?" She wasn't there.

"What have you done with her?" he demanded of the man in front of him.

"Oh, nothing much. Yet."

"If you do anything, if you harm a hair on her head, in any way, I swear to Rassilon I'll…I'll…"

"You'll what, Doctor?" the Master asked tauntingly. "You'll hurt me? You and whose army? You'll have to get past mine first." He slowly reached into his pocket, and pulled out the Doctor's sonic screwdriver. "Oh, and I suppose you can have this back now." With that he tossed the object to the Doctor. He automatically caught it, staring at the Master, who clapped his hands twice and walked out of the room, the circle of armed guards filing out after him. Anna was nowhere to be seen amongst the group.

The lights all went out bar, only the lamp, leaving the Doctor stranded in the almost-darkness, staring after his former friend and his latest army.

o0o0o

Anna opened one eye slowly, then the other. She looked around, but couldn't see anything much, as she appeared to be facing a wall of the same white-green colour as the cell had been earlier. She lay on a hard surface, but she couldn't see what it was without turning her head uncomfortably.

She listened hard but couldn't hear anything, so she slowly rolled over. She found herself in a room similar to the cell, but it was larger, and there was some sort of large built-in shelf that she lay on. There was also a chair sitting in the middle of the room.

Sitting on the chair was the Master, grinning like a shark. "Hello, Anna."

She sat upright quickly, leaning back slightly. "What do you want?"

"To talk. That's all. I want to talk to you. Is that such a crime?" He leaned backwards in his chair, making himself more comfortable.

Anna straightened up slightly, realising there was no point in cowering. "What did you do to me?"

"I did nothing to you."

"Then explain how I was standing next to the Doctor one moment, and the next thing I know I'm lying down here. What happened to me?"

"Teleportation into the future. There is still quite a while before the technology is developed on Earth, but here, the technology is cheap and easy to use. And legal. That's not very common."

Anna processed this for a moment. "So, you're saying that nothing happened to me between then and now, because I didn't exist?"

"Exactly!" the Master said gleefully, pleased that someone understood, finally. And a human, at that.

Anna leaned forward on the shelf, staring intently at the Master. "So, why do you want me then?"

"You are a link to the Doctor."

"What?"

"Let me explain. I am an acquaintance of the Doctor. We go back a long way. In fact, we used to be friends."

"Back on Gallifrey?" Anna interjected.

"Yes, back on Gallifrey."

"So why are you trying to kill him, if you're friends?"

"We were friends," he corrected her. "Haven't you heard? I'm insane." He grinned at her, his eyes glinting slightly in the stark overhead light. For the first time since she had woken up, Anna felt slightly uncomfortable.

"What do you want me for?" Anna repeated her earlier question. "Why do you need a link to the Doctor? What are you trying to do to him? Why do you think I'm going to help you?"

"So many questions! You have an inquisitive mind, for a human." The madman stood up and walked slowly over towards Anna, who stiffened slightly. He grinned again.

"You're scared of me already! What have I done to you?"

"You want to kill the Doctor. And you still haven't explained why."

"If you met the Doctor only yesterday, why do you want to save him?"

"I met him over a decade ago."

"So why do you say you met him only yesterday?"

"Long story."

"Please, do tell."

And before she knew it, Anna was telling this stranger, this madman, her life story from when she met the Doctor, to when he saved her from the mental hospital. She knew she probably shouldn't trust this man, but he had such intent, honest eyes that she couldn't help herself.

"And then we came to this planet, and there were meteors, and the Doctor said we should go to the town hall, and…well, I guess you know the rest," she finished. She looked up from her hands to see the Master closer than she had expected, only a foot from her face, and she jerked back slightly involuntarily. "Sorry," she muttered.

He stayed where he was, a slight smile on his face. "Don't be."

She waited, but he stayed in her face. She cleared her throat nervously. "So, um, what exactly am I doing here again?"

"We want to talk. Remember? You wanted to know about me, so I brought you here to talk."

"I wanted to talk…"

Anna cast her mind back, and she remembered, yes, it had been exactly how he had described. She had wanted to talk to him about the Doctor, so he had brought her to this room, away from the madman. She felt safe here, more than she had in her while life. More so than with the Doctor, certainly.

"Yes, to talk. Why are you so loyal to the Doctor, if he abandoned you like that?"

"He…I think he said something about the TARDIS taking him to the wrong time…or something…my head's so fuzzy now, I can't remember properly…it wasn't his fault, I know that."

"But why didn't he just go back to the right time, and see you again?"

"I…I don't know…I guess he couldn't, or something…" her speech was getting slightly slower, and her head fuzzier.

"He could, believe me. I'm a Time Lord too. I know these things."

"Then why?"

"He didn't really want you. He was more interested in the other girl he was seeing, and he forgot about you."

"Other girl?"

"Oh, you weren't the only one. That Doctor of yours, he's had hundreds of companions. Thousands, even. All girls. You were one of many, Anna, and you never mattered to him, not really. He got bored of you, that's all. He got bored and left you, then came back when he remembered you. Much, much later."

"Thousands? All girls?" Anna felt slightly sick, but she wasn't entirely certain that it was because of the news she had just heard.

"Yes." The Master's face was blank, inscrutable.

"And he just…left me? Forgot about me? Couldn't be bothered with me?"

"Yes."

Anna closed her eyes, and forgot to open them again for a second. Her head was fuzzy, her vision was starting to swim, but she knew one thing for certain. The Doctor was a horrible old alien. She couldn't trust him. She couldn't trust anyone. Not her mother, not her godmother, not the guards, not her friend Kathy. No one.

Except the Master. The Master had opened her eyes to who the Doctor really was, and she owed him a favour. Or several. She opened her mouth and tried to tell him, but her vision blurred and she swayed. The Master was quite handsome, actually. The Master was smart, and nice, and…and…the Master…

As she swayed and fell forwards, her eyes closed, he gently caught her and placed her on the bed. She snored slightly as he placed her head on the pillow. He needed to remember to be nice to this girl, for most of the time anyway.

The Master looked back at the sleeping girl before he swept out the door, turning out the light on his way. She was the key, the key to the Doctor. She was both the trap and the bait. If need be, she would be judge and jury. But not executioner. That was his job.

The Doctor always relied so heavily on his companions. He grew attached to the little humans, followed them around their busy little lives and trusting them so much. Well, now was the time for the role change. For this time, the Doctor would be defeated by one of the companions. And what's more, she would do it willingly.

He just needed to keep her safe and happy until the Doctor came with his army, whatever that would be. And this time, he was truly ready. Nothing the Doctor could throw at him would harm him any more than his precious Anna would hurt the Doctor.

* * *

**Please please ****_please _****review! Reviews are like butterflies, they float into my day and make it better!**

**Just let me know how i'm doing, whether I'm on the right track or not, anything. Just a few words? Please?**


	8. Payback

River was sprawled on her bed in Stormcage, writing quietly in her diary when she heard the _vworp, vworp_ of the TARDIS engines and sat up expectantly.

The Doctor opened the door and stepped out into the cell, and she responded by wrapping her arms around him. "Sweetie! How are you? Where've you been? Sit down, we should compare diaries…" she trailed off when she saw his sombre expression.

She guided him to the bed and sat down beside him, a comforting arm around his shoulders. "What's happened? What's up?" She noticed that he was wearing his purple suit, and realised that he must be older than the last time she had seen him.

The Doctor sat hunched over, like he was trying to ward something away. "How much do you know about me?"

"Everything I need to, and then some," she replied, winking. "Why do you ask?"

"You know about my past, my old enemies?"

"Most of them, yes. Sweetie, what's happened?" River could tell that her husband was more than sombre. He was worried.

The Doctor took a deep breath and swallowed. "The Master…he's come back."

River gave a small involuntary gasp, and covered her mouth. "Oh, sweetie!" she breathed. "What happened? What did he do to you?"

"Nothing. Not to me, anyway."

The Doctor was more than worried. He was scared. And he was never scared.

"Tell me," she said, moving closer to him, and so he did. He explained about Anna, and the Planet of the Coffee Shops, and the cell they had been in, and the guards, and everything. His voice started to shake slightly as he told her how Anna had disappeared, and she responded by pulling him into a tight hug until he was ready to continue.

There were times when the Doctor could be yelled at, and times when he could be flirted with, but this was neither of those times. What he needed right now was comfort, and so she comforted him as best she could.

When he had finished speaking, River let go and looked at him. "What can I do?" she asked gently, and he smiled slightly. "Be River," was all he replied.

o0o0o

The TARDIS landed in the middle of a long, dark hallway, a few feet away from the cell that the Doctor and Anna had shared previously. The door swung open and the Doctor and River stepped out, she with her gun out, and he brandishing his sonic screwdriver.

The Doctor looked around, and saw a head poking out of the cell door. The pair of them rushed over and were relieved to find Anna standing inside, staring at them in wonder.

"Anna! Thank goodness you're alright," the Doctor said, his sonic screwdriver making short work of the lock that held her inside. As soon as the door creaked open Anna fell into the Doctor's arms, tears running freely down her cheeks as she wept from relief and exhaustion.

River stood back and gave the hugging pair some space, smiling slightly at the sight of seeing the Doctor happy again. She waited until they had straightened up, then coughed slightly, drawing their attention to her.

"Oh, yes," the Doctor said hurriedly, sounding flustered. "River, this is Anna. Anna, meet River. My, ah, my wife."

Anna nodded to herself, and stuck her hand out for River to shake. "Anna James, the Doctor's companion. Pleased to meet you, River."

River seemed at a loss for words for a second, the younger girl's greeting having taken her by surprise. She simply smiled and took the proffered hand. "Professor River Song. Now, let's get out of here! This place makes me uneasy."

"No," Anna replied, a little too quickly. When the others looked at her questioningly, she said, "Why don't you go and try to, I don't know, kill the Master or something? You can't let him go around kidnapping people willy-nilly."

River raised an eyebrow at the Doctor, who nodded slowly. He bent himself down to Anna's eye level.

"Anna," he said carefully, "how long has it been? How long did I take?"

Anna found herself unable to meet his eyes for some reason, and looked downwards. "A week," she muttered.

The Doctor relaxed visibly. "Oh, that's good. I mean, not good that you were stuck here or anything but, you know, good that it wasn't longer or anything."

"Like twelve years," she remarked.

He nodded, agreeing, then stopped. "Wait. How do you know about twelve years?" he demanded suddenly.

"And why didn't you want us to go?" River added.

"I…I…" Anna looked from one to the other helplessly. "I guess...this place, it reminded me of being shut up, all alone, and I didn't like it…" she dissolved into tears again on the Doctor's shoulder, and he held her until she stopped crying, raising an eyebrow at River as he did so. She gave a slight nod, and he took Anna kindly and started to lead her down the corridor, River following behind.

As they walked, River tried to make conversation. "So, Anna. How long have you known the Doctor for?" She knew the answer already, but wanted to give the girl a chance to tell her story.

"All my life. Well, almost as long as I can remember, at least. I was in a park, all alone, you see, and he came and became my friend. He was the first friend I ever had, actually." And Anna told this stranger her full story, for the umpteenth time it seemed.

When she finished, River remarked, "That sounds like my mother's story, to be honest."

Anna stopped and turned around. "What did you say?"

"My mother, you see, she had red hair too, and the Doctor also met her when she was a child."

"The Doctor knows your mother?"

"Knew."

"And he married you?"

"Long story."

"So, he went travelling with his mother-in-law?"

"Not originally. Like I said, it's a long, timey-wimey story."

"Timey-wimey?"

The Doctor burst out laughing, then abruptly grew serious again. "Enough questions for now, Anna, let's try to get somewhere fast."

And so the trio carried on through the long, dark, winding corridors. After a while, River became aware of a rhythmic stomping sound coming from behind her. She turned to see a group of four guards marching towards them from behind, no doubt trying to ambush them on their escape attempt. She muttered to the Doctor and they picked up their pace, hurrying along until the guards were out of sight.

Eventually, they came to a door at the end of the corridor. Anna tried the door handle, but it was locked. The Doctor blasted it open with his sonic, and they crowded into the tiny room on the other side, listening against the door to try to hear the guards approaching.

At least, the Doctor and River were listening. Anna was inspecting the opposite wall of the room, which now appeared to be more like a broom cupboard than a room.

"Doctor?" she whispered.

"Yes, Anna?"

"I think I found a handle."

"What? No, the door's over here."

Anna rolled her eyes. "I mean, I don't think that's the only door," she responded, and the Doctor stepped over to see what she was talking about. River stood guard by the door.

After a minute or so searching, he whispered, "Yes, that's a door, all right. What do you think?" he asked River, and she nodded at him.

"It's the best chance we've got," she replied.

The Doctor tried to open the door with his screwdriver, but failed. "Stupid lock, it must be made of wood," he exclaimed. "And the Master would know about that, wouldn't he? Typical!"

He continued in that vein until River rolled her eyes and pushed him aside, pulling her gun from its holster once more. She aimed, and fired three short bursts at the lock, and it fell apart, scorch marks all around it.

The Doctor pushed at the door cautiously, and it swung open. He and River stepped through the slightly scorched door to find themselves in the middle of a half-ring of guards, all with their weapons levelled. The Doctor sighed and put his hands up slowly, nudging River to do the same. She reluctantly placed her gun on the floor and followed suit.

The Master stepped between two of the guards once again, grinning from ear to ear. "Oh, this is too easy!" he gloated. "Got you twice now, exactly the same! But I see we have a new arrival," he continued, looking River up and down. She looked daggers at him as he leered at her slightly.

The Master ignored her glare and raised his voice slightly. "Oh, and by the way, well done for bringing them here."

The Doctor shifted, feeling uneasy. "No one brought us here, we came of our own accord."

A voice piped up behind him. "I'm afraid you'll find that's not quite true." Anna walked out from behind the pair and went to stand beside the Master, looking totally relaxed and at ease.

The Doctor blinked. "Anna? What are you doing?"

River said nothing, her mouth set in a grim line. She had figured it out.

Anna merely grinned, but not in the way she had done when the Doctor had last seen her. This grin was slightly manic, almost the same grin the Master reserved for his best moments.

She was also acting differently from the person they had been walking with a couple of minutes earlier. Before she had been timid and quiet, a scared little girl, shrinking in on herself. Now, she was standing confidently, in a more relaxed manner, as if she owned the place.

She smiled her new grin, and looked the Doctor in the eyes. "What am I doing, Doctor? Quite simple, really." She stepped closer to the Time Lord, still staring him in the eyes. "Payback."


	9. Showing Her a Story

"Payback? For what? What are you paying me back for? What have I done?" The Doctor kept repeating these lines, and similar, even as he was being thrown into the cell with River. He grabbed at the bars and tried to shake them, but they were unmoving. Eventually he gave up and flopped against the wall, sliding down until he was squatting at the base of the wall.

River knelt down next to her husband and put her arm around him, and he was reminded of the similar scene between him and Anna. It was only a couple of hours ago for him, but goodness knew how long it had been for Anna. He put his head in the crook of his elbow and tears began to form in his eyes.

o0o0o

Anna and her Master sat in the large mayor's office in the Town Hall, staring out of the window. The repair workers were making good progress on rebuilding the town, and there were reports from all around the planet saying that the clean-up was going well everywhere.

The Master leaned back in his chair, contented. "Oh, Anna, get me a drink, would you?" No please, no nothing. But pleases and thank yous went out the window a long time earlier.

Anna was actually surprised to hear the Master ask a question, rather than making a demand. But he had got good reason to be in a good mood. After all, they did finally capture the Doctor. What's more, he had another one of his girls with him, further confirming what the Master had said.

Anna handed the Master a Wallbanger cocktail (no Harvey) and sat back down again, thinking hard. She knew how dangerous it was to interrupt him when he was drinking, but she needed to talk to him. Eventually she plucked up the courage to ask him a question.

"Master, you never did tell me. How did you manage to get the whole planet to think that me and the…Doctor…trashed the planet?"

"Mm?" He wasn't listening, not really.

"What did you do to the natives to make them think that we did it?"

The Master smiled, a secretive smile that gave her goosebumps, but she couldn't work out why. "Simple really. I have a network of satellites above the planet, which feed information into their brains. I might have planted a few ideas in them."

Anna's eyes widened. "That's brilliant," she gushed. "Satellites like angels, looking down on everybody and protecting them."

The Master looked thoughtful for a moment. "Angels…yes, that's a good idea."

There was silence for a few minutes, then Anna spoke again. "What will you do with them now?"

"I was going to leave them up there until they can be taken down."

"What? No, not the satellites. The prisoners. You know, the Doctor, and Stream, or whatever her name was." Anna knew her name was River, but she wanted to pretend that she hadn't paid attention, to please the Master.

"I'm not sure yet," he answered, but she knew he was lying. She raised an eyebrow at him and he elaborated. "I'm trying to decide how best to kill them. We want them to suffer, obviously, but how?" He turned to Anna, a smile playing on his lips. "What do you think?"

Anna was startled. "Me?"

"Yes, you. How should we kill the Doctor and his…wife?"

She thought for a moment. "Tell you what, I'll go away to my room for a while and think about it. Then I'll come back when I've thought of something, and you won't have to watch me think. All right?"

He nodded thoughtfully, and she took this as permission to go. As she got up to leave, he added, "Pass the drinks, would you?"

Anna pushed the small drinks table over to her Master, then walked out of the room. He smirked as he watched the door swing closed behind her, then reached over to the table to pour himself a large drink.

o0o0o

Anna skipped lightly down the corridor from her room to the mayor's office. She couldn't wait to tell the Master about her new plan to…permanently get rid of the Doctor and River.

She flung open the door to the office and danced inside, a winning smile on her face. She dropped herself into her chair by the window, and turned to face the Master's chair. She started to speak excitedly, but faltered when he turned slowly around to face her. She noticed that the drinks table was full of empty bottles which had previously been full. This was usually a bad sign.

He was wearing his special grin that he reserved for his craziest moments, his least logical ideas. She could see the manic look in his eye, more so than usual. She stopped talking, and he stood up slowly, leering at her in the same way he had at River earlier.

He stepped towards her chair, and she leant backwards slightly, subconsciously. He didn't say anything, and she was too scared to. He bent over her, and she could smell the alcohol on his breath. Stronger than Earth liquor, this stuff had the power to knock out a Sontaran for hours on end. It could even get a Time Lord drunk, so they said, and Anna had a feeling she was about to experience this first-hand.

The Master moved his face closer towards hers, and brought his mouth right to her ear, his breath tickling her. He whispered, "Have I ever told you you're hot?" Anna stiffened visibly, and he breathed, "Hey, calm down, Lucy. I'm not going to hurt you."

He moved his face so it was directly in front of hers. She was backed up into the corner of her chair, and she had nowhere to go. She was trapped by the Master for the first time.

He lifted one hand up, and she flinched as he gently cupped it around her neck. He leaned into her, inhaling her scent, and she held her breath, closing her eyes. She felt a sudden weight against her, and she resigned herself to the worst; but then she realised that the weight was unmoving.

Anna cracked open an eyelid to find the Master lying on her as if he had collapsed against her. His eyes were closed and he was snoring slightly. He had evidently passed out because he was so drunk.

She pushed him off her with immense effort, and stood up quickly out of the chair. She shook herself, looked at the Master lying on the floor, and pulled a face, before quickly exiting the room.

o0o0o

River was still crouching next to the Doctor when she heard footsteps approaching. She stood up quickly and moved over to the door, peering out through the bars down the corridor.

Anna was walking swiftly towards the cell flanked by two guards, both heavily armed. River snorted slightly. As if they could hurt her at all if they wanted to, with her gun and the Doctor's screwdriver confiscated like they were children. She cast a look back at her husband, slumped dejectedly against the wall, then turned to face the trio as they entered the cell.

Anna nodded curtly to River as she walked in, and glanced at the Doctor. A subconscious expression of worry crossed her face, to be quickly replaced by the slightly manic grin that she now permanently wore.

She turned to one of the guards and nodded, and the guard bowed, turned and left the cell, to return a couple of moments later with three chairs. She set them on the floor, and Anna sat in one, and motioned to River to do the same. River shook her head, staring coldly at the girl, arms folded.

To everyone's surprise, the Doctor picked himself up and sat on one of the other chairs. He looked down at his hands, folded in his lap, and did not move.

Finally, Anna spoke, still looking at the Doctor. "Tell me about the Master."

River raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

Anna turned to look at the older woman, meeting her cold gaze. "Don't you even try to patronise me, old lady." River shifted slightly, surprised. Anna continued. "In case you hadn't noticed, I run this place. I could have you killed, or set free, on a whim. I hold all the cards, I think you'll find. So if you want to survive this, the least you can do is answer me."

River just stared at Anna, arms folded. The Doctor still didn't do or say anything.

Anna relented. "Fine. Tell me about _her_ mother." She nodded at River, who stepped back slightly.

The Doctor gave a deep sigh and looked up at Anna. He stood up quickly, and the guards levelled their weapons at him. However, Anna held up a hand, signalling them to wait. She stood up to face the Doctor, gazing curiously at him.

He grabbed her shoulders, and the guards raised their weapons at him; but Anna did not notice this. He banged his forehead against her own, and she gasped and staggered backwards with the shock of the new information that had come flooding into her head. She could only see flashes, but she understood it all somehow: a lone girl, sitting on a suitcase in a garden, waiting for her Raggedy Man to come back for her. A young woman, waiting for her handsome prince for over thirty years. A handsome prince, waiting for his bride for two thousand years. A lifetime of waiting. Many lifetimes of waiting. A headstrong young woman, holding a baby in a white room. The baby turning into someone else, who turned into someone else, who fell in love with the Doctor. Hundreds of years' worth of knowledge, all in a few seconds.

Anna straightened up, gasping. She fell down into her chair, again gesturing to the guards to stand down.

The Doctor sat down again, staring at Anna. He raised an eyebrow at her, and she nodded shakily. "I think that's quite enough for one day," she said, then added, "But I'll be back to question you tomorrow. And I expect more co-operation, do you hear?" She directed the last sentence at River, who paused, then nodded sullenly.

"Right. That's settled then." Anna stood up and walked out of the cell, her legs still slightly shaky. She cast a last uncertain look at the Doctor, and a slightly respectful one at River; then she shook her head and swept off down the corridor.

The guards closed and locked the cell door, glaring at the prisoners inside as they did so. River stared back aggressively, and they seemed to shrink slightly, and moved away hurriedly.

River sat on the chair that had not been occupied, and looked at the Doctor questioningly. "Well?" she asked.

"Well what?" he asked in return, but she could tell his mind was on another matter.

"Doctor, I know you. Better than you think. And I could tell that you weren't only giving that girl your memories."

"I haven't the faintest idea what you mean," he said, beginning to grin playfully.

She merely gave him a look. "Yes, you do. You were probing into her brain, and you didn't look too pleased with what you found. But how did you do that?"

"A door, once opened, may be stepped through in either direction." The Doctor said it like he was quoting someone else, from a long time ago.

River didn't press any further, instead asking, "So what did you find?"

He closed his eyes briefly, then looked back up at her. "She's been here for more than a week, definitely. More like a year or two." River gasped, and he carried on. "In that time, the Master has been basically brainwashing her into thinking that I'm the enemy. She feels that I've abandoned her, and that it's my fault her life turned out the way it did." He sounded bitter. "She thinks she's running this planet on an equal level with the Master, but in reality she's kidding herself. She's actually scared of the man, but feels she owes him a debt for saving her from me."

River scooted closer to the Doctor and put a sympathetic arm around his shoulders, squeezing slightly to encourage him to continue.

"He managed to convince the planet that Anna and I destroyed it, but that Anna has repented for her evil ways and is now worthy of running the planet. Unfortunately, she also now believes this also. He's mostly been kind to her, but sometimes…sometimes he loses it slightly. The façade slips. And she becomes scared. And tonight…" he gave an involuntary shudder, and stopped talking.

"What, sweetie? What happened tonight?"

"Nothing," he answered, a little too quickly. River wanted to ask more, but she sensed now was not a good time. Instead, she asked, "So what are we going to do now?"

He seemed pleased of the distraction from his thoughts. "We proceed with caution. She's not the same person she was, and we don't know her strengths or weaknesses. We need to start by re-building her trust. And you can start by doing as you're told, no matter how insolently she says it. Alright?"

River started to object, but he cut her off. "Remember, the Master has re-modelled her in his image. We need to reverse this, by treating her with kindness and respect. Can you at least try to be nice?"

She pursed her lips and said nothing. The Doctor sighed.

"I didn't want it to come to this, River, but you leave me no choice. A girl, taken away at a young age, from a person she has known only a day or so. She is brainwashed into believing that she should kill a person she ultimately should trust, namely me. Ring any bells?"

River looked down at the floor, shamefaced, and nodded. "All right. I'll be nice to her. But she needs to be nice to me, too!" she added.

"Good." He sat up straighter and adjusted his bowtie. "Now, you should probably get some sleep. We'll have another interrogation tomorrow, and Anna won't let anything happen to us before then. She wants information, and we're the best people to give it to her."

River nodded, then covered her mouth and yawned. "What about you?" she asked sleepily.

"I don't need that much sleep, you know that," he replied, and she nodded again. She lay down, her head on his lap, and closed her eyes. She was asleep within seconds.

The Doctor looked down at his wife and smiled slightly. Then he settled down to wait for the night.


	10. How do I know I can trust you?

**A/N: I'd just like to say, I'm sorry if the Doctor and/or River are a bit OOC during this story, particularly in the cell. The idea is that they've been put into a very unfamiliar situation, trapped by the companion, and with no one to save them. So sorry if this bothers you at all.**

The next morning, Anna woke up and stretched deliciously, her eyes still shut. She could see the light streaming in the window through her closed eyelids, and she smiled slightly, anticipating the day ahead. Today was the day she was finally going to get the truth about the Doctor and the Master.

She rolled over onto her side and opened her eyes, and screamed.

For standing by her bed, right in her face, was the Master.

She yelped and scrambled backwards, pulling the bedcovers up around her. "Master! You…you startled me!"

He merely smiled at her thinly, leaning forward towards her. "Anna. Anna, Anna, Anna."

"Um, yes?" She was starting to get over the initial shock of seeing him, but was still wary. "Can I help you?"

He kept standing, unmoving, with that awful grin still on his face. "Anna. Who gave you permission to go and talk to the prisoners?"

Anna relaxed slightly; he just wanted to talk. "I went to interrogate them," she replied, with as much dignity as she could muster.

"Why did you ask the Doctor," she could hear the contempt in his voice, "about me?"

"I…I wanted to hear their side of the story. You know what they say, know thine enemy," she joked, forcing a smile.

The Master stopped smiling, and merely looked at her. "What did he show you?"

Anna got defensive. "How do you know he showed me anything? There aren't any cameras in the cells!"

"There were no cameras, but there were guards. And guards are very easy to bribe."

She sighed. "All right. He showed me these images, of another red-faired girl. His wife's mother. He was trying to kid me that she was special, like he tried to kid me that I was special. He conveniently forgot to mention the hundreds of other girls he's been travelling with." She rolled her eyes.

He nodded thoughtfully, and she relaxed slightly.

Suddenly, he dived onto her bed, leaning over her. She shrieked involuntarily, scooting further backwards until she was nearly falling off the other side.

"What are you doing?" she squeaked, hoping he couldn't notice the tremor in her voice.

He grabbed hold of her right wrist, squeezing it tightly until she was sure he was cutting off her circulation. She struggled slightly, trying to get free, but she could not move. Terrified, she stared up into his face, seeing him grinning at her like a madman.

"Why did you resist me last night?" he demanded, shaking her when she did not reply immediately. "Answer me!"

"I…I don't know…please don't hurt me!"

"What? Don't you want to please your master?" he asked mockingly, lifting her off the bed slightly.

"Please let go of me; you're hurting me!" she cried, struggling against his vice-like grip; and then he had let go, and she fell back against the pillow, holding her wrist and watching the door close behind him.

Anna leant her head back, looking up at the ceiling. She tried to calm herself down, and get her breath back.

She stayed lying there, listening to her fast-beating heart, for a long time. Eventually, she got up, and went to get some breakfast.

o0o0o

The Doctor nudged River awake as he heard footsteps approaching, and she sat bolt upright, rubbing her eyes.

The pair of them watched as Anna entered the cell, holding her arms behind her back. They noted that this time, she motioned for the guards to wait outside for her. The Doctor supposed this must mean that she trusted them more now.

She walked slowly to the empty chair, watching them warily. They were both smiling at her, the Doctor warmly, River grudgingly. The girl sat down and put her hands in her lap, inconspicuously covering her right wrist with her left hand.

Anna got right down to business. "Why did you show me that, yesterday?" she asked, looking right at the Doctor.

"You asked about Amy, so I showed you her story. I wanted to show you that I do care, about you and her and everybody."

"Then why did you make her wait so many times? Why did you make me wait?"

"I'm sorry, Anna, that it took me so long to come back here for you. The TARDIS malfunctioned, same as it did the first time, and took me to the wrong time. I'm so, so sorry. There wasn't anything I could do."

"But that's not the real reason, is it now, Doctor?"

He seemed slightly taken aback. "Isn't it?"

Anna smiled thinly. "No, it isn't. The real reason is that you were too busy with your many other girls to be bothered with me."

He frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, my Master has told me all about you and your many girls. Companions, isn't that what you call them? He told me that you've had hundreds of them, thousands even, 'travelling' with you. I suppose one can get through an awful lot of people in a thousand years, can't they?" she sneered. "I don't suppose he told you, Stream?" she asked River. "Probably told you that you were special, as well, right?"

The Doctor was staring at her, eyes wide. "That's…that's completely wrong!" he choked out. "I don't know what he's been telling you, but it's all false, I promise you!"

"Rule one: the Doctor lies," Anna said dismissively.

"He's the lying one, I tell you!" he cried. "I admit, I've met a few people in my travels – well, a lot, actually – but not like _that!_"

River put a calming hand on his arm. "It's okay, Sweetie. Keep it down," she said, for she had noticed that the guards outside were getting edgy at the sound of his raised voice.

He took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, Anna. Look, you want to know about the Master? I'll tell you." He stood up, and Anna stood up also. He put his fingers gently on her temples, and this time she was ready for the onslaught of information that followed.

She gasped as the watched a madman, a murderer, in different bodies, wreaking havoc through the galaxy. She saw him die by his own wife's hand, then sacrifice himself eventually to save the universe from his own race.

Anna and the Doctor staggered apart, her holding her head in her hands. "What? Why didn't you do that before, instead of banging your head into me? The Master died already? Then how is he…never mind. Was that all true?" she demanded of him.

He simple nodded, and she sat down, stunned. "How do I know I can trust you?" she asked, eyeing him suspiciously as he sat down facing her.

He shrugged. "You don't. Trust me or not, it's entirely your choice."

River added, "But I can tell you, Anna that there are hundreds, thousands, probably millions of people throughout this galaxy, and more besides, that would trust him completely with their lives. Even people in alternate universes. And I am among those many people. He has saved me so many times, and I have saved him too. Because I know he is worth it. Without him, there are countless worlds, planets, entire solar systems that would have died a long time ago. Life as you know it would be gone. He has saved your planet alone countless times, that I can tell you for certain.

"So you don't have to trust him, but if I were you, I would. He will save you, more times than you will be able to count. So don't kill him. Trust him, and you will be safe, I promise you."

Anna looked from one to the other. It was obvious that River was telling the truth, but Anna still did not trust the Doctor entirely.

She got up from her chair and started pacing from one side of the cell to the other, subconsciously rubbing her right arm. The Doctor noticed and sprung up, walking over to her. He tried to hold her arm, but she twisted away from him, shielding her arm with her body.

"Trust me," he said gently, "I'm a doctor."

She grudgingly held out her arm for him to inspect, and he held it gently. He saw the finger-shaped bruises, and sucked in a breath. "Rassilon!" he exclaimed. "What did he do to you?" he demanded.

River stood up also and looked at Anna's arm, and shared a looked with her husband. Together they gently led Anna back to her seat, and sat her down.

River bent down to the girl's height, her hand on Anna's shoulder. "Anna," she started gently, "has the Master done anything to you? Anything serious?"

Anna frowned, slightly confused. "Nothing that I can think of, no. Why do you ask?"

The Doctor also bent down to Anna's level, and asked equally gently, "How did you get this bruising?"

Anna looked down at her hand. "Oh, that!" she said, slightly relieved. "That was nothing. An accident. He surprised me in bed this morning." She saw the look that passed between the Doctor and River, and widened her eyes. "No! Nothing like that!" she said quickly. "God, no! He just…got angry, that's all. Nothing like _that_, don't worry."

River nodded and slowly drew herself up to her full height, looking at something behind Anna. The Doctor followed her gaze and stood up also, instinctively reaching into his jacket pocket for his sonic which was not there.

Anna twisted around in her seat to see the Master himself standing outside the cell, quietly watching them. She jumped up and said, "Um, hello, Master. I didn't see you there. Um, how long were you standing there?"

The Master simply smiled at her, but not in the way he normally would. This was more of a predatory smile, one she had only seen twice before – once the day before, and once earlier that morning. He stepped into the cell and walked over to her, slowly, casually. The three other people in the cell watched him, Anna warily, River suspiciously, the Doctor looking protective of Anna.

The Master stood next to Anna and bent so his mouth was close to her ear. Everybody in the cell stiffened as he whispered, "Long enough."

Anna swallowed audibly, and the Master grinned. "So what were you talking to the prisoners about?" he asked in a louder voice, so that everyone could hear. "Anything interesting?"

Anna looked at the Doctor and River with contempt, and said, "I was interrogating them, but they refused to tell me anything. I was just going to leave, actually. I thought I might try again tomorrow."

He smiled at her. "Well, why don't you come with me then?"

She said quickly, "Um, just five more minutes? I'll be right along. Just a couple more questions."

"Fine then. I'll stay and watch, if you don't mind."

"No! I mean, I'll be fine. Just a couple more minutes, all right?"

He gave her a long, searching look, then nodded. "Two minutes. I'll wait outside with the guards."

She nodded and smiled slightly at him, watching as he left the cell. As soon as he was out of sight she fell onto the chair again, rolling her eyes.

The Doctor bent over Anna anxiously. "Are you all right?"

"Of course I am," Anna replied, "why on Gallifrey wouldn't I be?" Seeing him flinch, she quickly said, "Why on Earth wouldn't I be? I just had a chat with my Master, and I'm going to see him in a few moments. Just a couple of questions left for you two first." Seeing the Doctor's puzzled look, she nodded towards the door, indicating that the Master was right outside, listening to their every word.

River said, slightly louder than usual, "Well, we're not going to tell you anything, so you're wasting your time."

Anna bent down and scratched her leg, then sat upright again. "Fine. I won't waste any time with you two. But I'll be back tomorrow, and you'd better talk this time!" she added, standing up and moving towards the door.

The pair waved as Anna disappeared out of sight, then quickly stopped when the Master poked his head around the doorway. "Tell me, Doctor, how does it feel?"

"How does what feel?" the Doctor asked stiffly.

"To have all hope torn away from you like this. To know that an innocent girl's life has been ruined. And to know that it's all your fault." He grinned his trademark grin and disappeared, signalling to the guards to lock the door after him.

As soon as the door had slammed shut, River ran over to the chair where Anna had been sitting moments earlier. She reached underneath and groped around, searching for something.

The Doctor went and stood next to her. "River, what do you think you're doing?"

"Didn't you see Anna, just before she left?" River replied, still searching.

The Doctor thought back. "She scratched her leg, stood up, and left. That's all I can think of. What did I miss?"

River smiled as her hand found something. "She wasn't scratching her leg. She was hiding something."

"What is it? It's not a bomb, is it? I don't like bombs."

River rolled her eyes and pulled out a small, thin object. "It appears that someone trusts us more than she lets on." She opened her hand and held out the object to the Doctor, and he took it.

He looked properly, and saw that he was holding his sonic screwdriver.


End file.
